1. Field
Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to rolling mills, and are concerned in particular with the provision of an improved modular rolling mill for finish rolling long products such as round rods and bars as well as shaped products.
2. Description of Related Art
As disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,055 (Woodrow et al.) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,152,165 (Shore et al.), known block type finishing mills typically comprise multiple mechanically coupled roll stands driven by a common motor.
It is also known, as disclosed for example in U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,083 (Shore) and U.S. Pat. No. 7,191,629 (Shore et al.), to subdivide the finishing mill into multiple mechanically coupled rolling units, each of which includes two pairs of work rolls.
In these finishing mills, because the roll stands or rolling units are permanently coupled mechanically, the inertia of the entire mill serves to dampen impact speed drops caused by the entry of a product front end into the successive roll passes. On the negative side, however, is the relatively high cost of such finishing mills, due in large part to the complex and costly gear trains required to achieve mechanical coupling of the roll stands or rolling units, and the large and costly motors employed to drive the mills